Piper's Painting

This painting was for my dear friend, LeaAnn and it was probably my favorite project so far this year.  One, it was for a very special little girl, LeaAnn's daughter, Piper Ann.  And, two, I love bright, colorful paintings! 

I was very excited when Lea asked me paint something for Piper's room and even more excited when I saw the bedding.  I wonder if it comes in Queen size...  

The pictures above are of the painting and of Piper's room (back when it wasn't completely finished).  The pictures of the pillows and the bedding were obtained http://www.cottontaledesigns.com/collections/lizzie.html.

Hopefully Piper loves bright colors as much as her me and her mommy!

Modern Love

A co-worker hosted a baby shower recently and asked me to make the cake.  Instead of a traditional baby boy shower look, they went with a more modern theme.  I was excited to do something out of the ordinary (for me).  Here is the cake, along with a sample of the invitation and napkins used.

LSU ... Always a Good Choice

This past weekend, I got to make another LSU cake.  This time for my cousin's son.  Until football season starts (40 days from now, not that I am counting), this is gonna have to do!  The cake was a version of a chocolate doberge cake.  Since it was a sheet cake, it only had three layers instead of the usual six.  It was still delicious though!

Birthday Blessings

A couple of weekends ago, my family and I got together in Bay St. Louis to celebrate my grandmother's birthday.  Mama Day is truly a remarkable person, and our family is blessed to have her as our matriarch!  We had a wonderful time celebrating her birthday.  While others were busy boiling shrimp and frying fish, I had the pleasure of baking the cake!  My family always talks about my Granny's (Mama Day's mom/my dad's grandmother) lemon doberge cake. Growing up, I didn't like cake, so unfortunately I do not remember ever tasting Granny's cake.  I knew I couldn't duplicate it, but I wanted to make something similar. So, for Mama Day's birthday, I made a lemon cake.

Quick side note ... I searched online for lemon and chocolate doberge cake recipes, and I was very surprised to find only a handful of recipes online.  Of course, I had to find out why ... Doberge cake (there are a few differnt pronunciations; we say dough-bosh) is a traditional New Orleans birthday cake, usually chocolate, lemon or half and half.  It consists of six thin layers of cake filled with either a chocolate or lemon pudding/custard filling, topped with a very thin layer of buttercream and finished off with either a chocolate or lemon glaze.  I never knew this cake was a local treat.  I thought everyone had doberge cake for birthdays and holidays!

Anyway, Granny's cake was a typical doberge cake, but from what I've gathered, it was made up of many, many layers of very thin cake with a lemon glaze/icing in between each layer and topped with the same glaze/icing.  For my own version of the lemon cake, I decided to make a 6-layer cake, filled with a homemade lemon curd (recipe given to me by my friend Kristy of her grandmother's recipe), topped with a lemon-vanilla buttercream.  And while I still hope to one day find a recipe like Granny's to make for my family, my own version was definitely a hit with everyone!  I believe I may get many requests for this one in the future.  I kept the decorations simple, bright and cheery!

Mama Day looks beautiful, as always.  I, on the other hand, look rough after spending the entire day outside in the hot, sticky Gulf Coast weather.  Oh well, it was worth it!